Saturday, August 8, 2009

Shabba Shabba!

Some old photos:

Cantillation practice

Cantillation practice

Shabba Shabba Shabba Shabbat Shalom!

I'm sitting here on a beautiful Shabbat afternoon doing absolutely nothing. I know I've said it lots, but there really is nothing like Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Since I last wrote, I found the opportunity for a different community service opportunity that I am super excited about. I will be volunteering in the HUC Kindergarten for Israeli students. While working in a preschool is not something new to me, I am anxious and excited to begin the challenge of learning the cultural differences between Israeli preschools and American preschools. While my Hebrew has improved since I arrived a little over a month ago, it's still not perfect and it will be interesting to force myself to use it in order to communicate with Israeli 4 and 5 year olds whose Hebrew is way better than mine.

Thursday, we had our first Tiyul (there's really no good English word to use for Tiyul, but for lack of a better translation, it's sort of like a field trip in America). David Ilan, our Biblical Archaeology professor, led our Tiyul to the City of David. It was pretty interesting and the material we had been learning in class had started to make a little more sense when David was able to point out different archaeological features.

After class, we came home to get ready for the Israeli wine festival at the Israel Museum. But, before we could head out, we had an afternoon lecture at school. After the lecture, many of my HUC classmates all met up at the Israel Museum for the wine festival. It was a beautiful evening and a fun way to end our week. Ally, me, Rachel, Lauren, and Allie in front of the Ahava (love) sculpture at the Israel Museum

Ally and me at the wine festival

Friday, I headed to Tel Aviv for the day with a few friends. Rachel Levin (another joint ed/communal service student) and I spent most of the afternoon at the very large mall in Tel Aviv. We met up with several of our other friends at the port for Kabbalat Shabbat (the same service that I went to a few weeks ago). After Kabbalat Shabbat we found a place t o grab some dinner before heading back to Jerusalem. Unlike Jerusalem, everything on the port was open and there were hundreds of people walking around as if it were any other day of the week. I find the contrast between the two cities so interesting and while I love Tel Aviv (what's not to love about the beach on the Mediterranean), but at the end of the day, I love coming home to Jerusalem.
Rachel, Ally, me and Jonah at the Beach in Tel Aviv

Sunset over the Mediterranean during Shabbat services


Me, Ally, and Rachel


Ally, me, Hannah, Lara, and Rachel

Shabbat morning services are a new favorite of mine. Yoshi Zweiback led services along with Josh Breitzer, our intern in his 4th year of the cantorial program (who is going to be an amazing cantor), and a choir of HUC students and SO's (significant others). For those of you who don't know, Yoshi is extremely talented and is part of "Mah Tovu" a group that has composed many of my favorite melodies. This morning we sang "Tov L'hodot" together and it was definitely a spiritual moment listening to the words sung by Yoshi.

So now I am back home. Had Shabbat lunch with Ally and Allie and we are all having our individual Shabbat afternoon relaxation time. In America, I find my Saturdays filled with errands and running around trying to get everything done that I wasn't able to accomplish during the week. In Israel, Saturdays are called Shabbat, and on Shabbat, I rejoice in relaxing and enjoying a break from the craziness of the rest of the week. On our way to services the only people walking around, are dressed for synagogue, in the afternoon families are out for afternoon walks. The noise from the construction that wakes me up early in the morning is silent on Shabbat, the horns on the cars even lessen (and boy do those Israelis love to use their horns), and the police sirens have stopped. It's quiet, it's peaceful, it truly feels like Shabbat.

And of course, tonight we will have Havdallah at our spot in the park overlooking the walls of the Old City and truly feel the separation of Shabbat from the rest of the week. Typically after Havdallah we head to Ben Yehuda to experience the craziness of Saturday night. Everything is open and the street is filled with hundreds of tourists and it's a very fun site to be part of.

We will come home and get ready for an early day of school tomorrow and prepare ourselves for the week ahead. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of Shabbat, the day of rest, set apart from the rest of the week.

Shabbat Shalom!

1 comment:

  1. Amanda-- how about we try to pen pal with your preschool class and one from the JCC? Digitally?? Lets try to figure this out k????

    ReplyDelete